OCU laments the removal of direct ban for UOC from the chaplaincy law

Chaplain. Photo: Ukrnews

The OCU is unhappy that a clause has been removed from the Law "On the Service of Military Chaplaincy" that in fact directly prohibits the priests of the UOC to provide spiritual guidance to their faithful in the army. The corresponding commentary by Dmitry Karan, deputy head of the OCU department for work with volunteers and veterans, was published on December 4 on the website of the official newspaper of the Verkhovna Rada "The Voice of Ukraine".

Karan is a military chaplain from the UAOC who was directly involved in the development of this bill. As the resource of the Rada emphasized, "Father Dmitry is an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity, his voice sounded from the stage of the Kyiv Maidan, he spiritually supported the protesters, was a member of the spiritual council of the Maidan."

The representative of the OCU noted that from the bill, which had been drafted and coordinated for a long time, “one significant clause was eventually removed at the final stage, which concerned the priests of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.” And now, according to him, “their representatives are trying to convince that the law opens up an opportunity for the priests of the UOC to join the Ukrainian Army. Although according to the Law of Ukraine No. 2662 (the so-called law on forced renaming – Ed.) <...> they have no right to be represented in the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

“Due to the fact that this clarification was removed from the chaplaincy law, we hope that military commanders and the public will follow up and pay attention to the current Law No. 2662,” Karan added.

We will remind, on November 30, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the bill "On the service of the military chaplaincy" in the second reading. The UOJ published explanations of the Legal Department of the UOC about the adopted law and the amendments removed from it.

Earlier, the spokesman of the OCU Eustratiy Zoria said that the exclusion of the norms that discriminate against the UOC from the chaplaincy law is not at all a reason to allow the priests of the canonical Church to take spiritual care of the Ukrainian military.

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